GORRES TO FIGHT AT WBO CONVENTION
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 05 Sep 2007
Despite being blatantly robbed of victory in his title fight against WBO super flyweight champion Fernando Montiel right in his hometown of Cebu, Z “The Dream” Gorres will venture into San Juan, Puerto Rico to figure in a mandatory championship elimination bout at the Annual Convention of the WBO on October 31.
Well known promoter Sammy Gello-ani told Viva Sports/Manila Standard Today that the opponent of Gorres will be Juan Panterita Mercedes, the 25 year old the IBF Latino super flyweight champion who also holds the WBA Fedcaribe title.
Mercedes has a record of 19-1 with 13 knockouts. A native of the Dominican Republic, his hometown is San Juan, Puerto Rico, which will be the site of the WBO Convention.
Gello-ani disclosed that whoever wins will gain mandatory status to face reigning champion Fernando Montiel who is reportedly considering moving up in weight.
The 25 year old southpaw Gorres has a record of 27-2-1 with 15 knockouts and is coming off an eighth round TKO over former WBC light flyweight champion Eric Ortiz in the Philippines vs Mexico World Cup at the Arco Arena in Sacramento, California last August 11. Prior to that Gorres lost a hugely controversial split decision to Montiel in a fight card titled “Moment of Truth” on February 24 this year.
The fight was marred by the actions of referee Samuel Viruet who deducted two points from Gorres for holding and judges Chuck Giampa who scored it 114-112 and Raul Caiz who had Montiel the winner 115-111 which was in stark contrast to Denny Nelson who had Gorres the winner 115-111 despite the two point deduction and said later “I scored it as I saw it,”
Reminded of the bum decision, Gello-ani said the issue had been discussed with WBO president Francisco “Paco” Valcarcel and he was confident that with several officials attending the convention it was a “good way for the WBO to show the whole world that the WBO has fair judging.” Gello-ani said he was “given an assurance by Valcarcel that they will pick good officials.”
The Filipino promoter said they were “appreciative of the gesture” to put Gorres on the convention fight card and termed it “a good gesture to win back the confidence of the Filipinos” since the standing of the WBO suffered badly after the Gorres-Montiel title fight.
The assurances appear to ring hollow considering what transpired when Kendall Holt fought WBO junior welterweight champion Ricardo Torres in Colombia and claimed he was hit by all sorts of debris thrown into the ring including cans and even had his leg pulled by a fan but the referee did nothing to stop the chaos.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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